Homework has been associated with a range of academic and cognitive benefits for secondary students. Research has also revealed that students’ homework behaviours can vary with demographic traits. An important factor that may account for some of this variation is the role played by teachers and schools in homework allocation. It is hypothesised that some of the demographic variables that have been found to predict individual students’ homework practices are also related to teachers’ practices in terms of the frequency and volume of homework allocated at the classroom level. To test this hypothesis, Australian data from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study are analysed in the current study. Results show that the frequency of mathematics homework allocated by teachers is related to some variables that have commonly predicted the differences in student achievement such as socioeconomic status, valuing of and confidence in mathematics, teaching experience and school location. The implications of these findings for schools and education systems are explored as suggestions for ensuring that homework policies and practices do not exacerbate demographic differences in school outcomes.

The study discussed in this article examines the experiences of teachers participating in a district-wide Educational Design Research (EDR) initiative, with a particular focus on any perceived changes in teacher practices. McKenney and Reeves (2013) claimed that one of the two main goals of EDR is to benefit practice, but to date this claim has been underexplored in the literature. To test this claim, data for this quantitative study was collected from 344 teachers in an urban school district in California. The findings illustrate that EDR did enable the majority of teachers to enhance their teaching practices.

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors influencing teachers' intentions to engage in professional learning on the mathematics Common Core State Standards (CCSS). The aim was to identify specific factors teachers encounter that impinge upon or facilitates implementing new instructional practices. Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior was used to examine the influence of three constructs (attitude toward the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) on teachers' intentions to implement the instructional expectations associated with the CCSS in mathematics. Data for this quantitative study was collected from 152 teachers in an urban school district in California. The result of the study provides support for the adequacy of the theory of planned behavior for predicting and understanding teachers' behavioral intention toward professional learning. Intention was predicted significantly by perceived behavioral control, subjective norm and attitude toward the behavior.

The aim of this paper is to describe the application of the adaptive change model (ACM) to the school context, and provide rubrics for the use the model to evaluate student or teacher preparedness for change, and enhance the decision-making process at the school community, classroom, and individual student levels. Transformational learning is a philosophy that conceptualises change as central in the teaching and learning dynamic and provides the foundation for understanding how the ACM is applied to teaching and learning. The second aim of this paper is to propose how the eight factors of the ACM provide a template for interventions in schools. The eight factors (five processes and three supports) of the model define ways of prompting change, the responsiveness to curriculum materials and learning, and the processes that facilitate change and learning. Two rubrics to forward-map the change process towards learning based on this model are provided for future practice and research. The model provides a means of operationalising and monitoring progress for individual students from the teachers' and eventually the students' perspectives.

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In this paper we argue for a revision of the knowledge, skills and competencies of school psychologists and specialist teachers. Evidence-based practice of psychologists and teachers, the accountability movement, and calls for improved service delivery have led to changes in the practice of both professions. The changes in technology and the growing complexity of service delivery have converged, leading to changes in the practice of testing, assessment, and evaluation in schools. This has led to calls for increased competencies of teachers. Testing, assessment and evaluation have previously been a central practice of educational psychologists but it is now expected to be a key competence of all teachers and other professionals working in schools. This inevitably changes the balance of practices of both teachers and educational psychologists in schools as roles converge, making collaboration and joint consultation best practice within a response to intervention framework. In view of the growing demands, changes and possibilities, we propose a three tier model of assessment functions that includes educational psychologists, special educators and teachers. The proposal is inclusive and offers possibilities for a more collaborative and participatory relationship between these professions in school settings and a stronger emphasis in pre-service curriculum on testing and interpretation and its utility in effective intervention.

This research is an investigation of the link between adaptive functioning and resilience in early career teachers (ECT). Resilience is considered an important capability of teachers and research has shown that teachers who are resourceful, demonstrate agency and develop positive management strategies overcome adversity. In this research, we aim to examine more closely the strategic processes associated with resilience and whether these vary in a cohort of ECT. A sample of ECT (n = 160; M = 31.09, SD = 6.92) participated in the study. The findings showed that, consistent with previous research on adaptive change, three groups emerged from the cohort: stabilisers, adapters, and innovators. Stabilisers were the least resilient, adapters were more resilient, and innovators were most resilient. Length of service was not significantly associated with resilience, while a weak interaction was found between years of service and adaptive functioning. Resilience was strongly associated with adaptive functioning. Findings are discussed in relation to resilience and ECT’s self-care.

With schools across England, Wales and Northern Ireland required to implement a new National Curriculum, it is timely explore how other systems have approached such a large-scale undertaking. In the United States, schools have been implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for the past 5 years. The introduction of the CCSS has led schools, districts and systems to intensify their focus on teacher professional learning to ensure the standards are implemented with fidelity. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of teachers who participated in a district-wide Educational Design Research (EDR) project, as a form of professional learning, during the 2014-2015 school year. EDR is the systematic study of designing, developing and evaluating educational programs, processes and products (Plomp, 2007). Presently, there is a push for classroom teachers to undertake forms of teacher inquiry, such as practitioner research. The justification is that high performing, or top tier, systems in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) “support research undertaken by teachers to drive innovation and school system improvement” (DEECD, 2012, p. 15). Similarly, in Shanghai teachers are “encouraged to identify a particular aspect of learning and examine the theory and evidence base, then trial different teaching practices drawing on their findings” (Jensen, 2012, p. 23). However, further exploration into teacher inquiry (and the key determinants that influence teacher learning), is required if this is to be successfully implemented in other systems. Data for this quantitative study was collected from 345 teachers in an urban school district in California via an online selfreport survey. The teachers’ participated in a mathematics professional learning project that required participants’ to attend four full-day learning workshops complimented by in-classroom support throughout the 2014-2015 academic year.

Of the various ways of defining learning, few use students’ own terms as the foundation for the definition of factors. Based on data derived from student’s descriptions of concepts of learning a questionnaire was developed. Responses from 252 tertiary students were used to evaluate and validate the conceptions of learning. Exploratory and confirmatory analysis showed that the seven concepts of Interest, Performance, Effort, Understanding, Ease, Natural Ability, and Preoccupation were acceptable as were levels of reliability. The consistency of the factors was tested over the duration of a semester with no significant differences between times 1 and 2 and no significant gender differences. The implications for further development and application are discussed as is the similarity of the seven factors with previous explanations of learning.

Based on research into adult social support and the ecological model of development, we sought to redefine and establish the levels and nature of support provided to Year 7 (n= 52), 9 (n= 52) and Year 11 (n= 33) adolescents over a period of 3 months. A questionnaire to identify who provided support to adolescents was developed to measure instrumental, informational and emotional support, and add siblings to the primary support network. Factor analysis confirmed the expected four-factor model of support, with parents, teachers, siblings and friends providing different levels and priorities of support. Results indicated high levels of internal consistency and test–retest reliability. Trends in the amount of social support generally showed a decrease from Time 1 to Time 2, significantly so from parents and teachers. Females indicated they received significantly more support from friends in comparison with males, regardless of year level. Year 7 students indicated significantly higher support from parents and teachers. Importantly, this study showed the general decline of social support from early to late adolescence, and the relative consistency of social support for male and female adolescents. The different types of supports provided to the individuals in the adolescents’ social network are discussed.

The current study uses social judgment theory to inform the design of processes to be used in selecting teachers for training programs. Developing a comprehensive selection process to identify individuals who are likely to succeed as teachers is a mechanism for improving teacher quality and raising the profile of the profession. The design of such a process requires the identification of qualities of effective teaching that can be assessed at selection, and their relative importance. Six psychological constructs are identified from previous literature that are likely to differentiate between teaching candidates - Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Resilience, Self-Regulation and Cognitive Ability. Participants (n = 90) judged the likely success of 35 hypothetical teaching candidates. All included constructs were positively related to candidate selection, with Cognitive Ability the most valued attribute. Individuals clustered into three groups - one cluster high cognitive ability, a second cluster of people with high personality scores, Agreeableness in particular, and a third characterized by high self-regulation and Resilience scores. Further research is required to validate the current findings however they lend support to the use of all six constructs in teacher selection, particularly cognitive ability.

Writing is a key area of literacy in the early years, however writing receives less research attention than reading despite its impact on students’ learning generally, and literacy development specifically. Writing skills have also been shown to be quite stable−good writers in the early years stay good writers in the later years. Therefore it is critical to better understand the aspects of writing central to development that might support teaching and learning. In this paper we share findings from the analysis of 500 writing samples from 250 students. The students were in Year 1, which is the second year of school in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia. Samples were collected at two points in time (approximately four to five months apart) and analysed using a writing analysis tool developed by the authors in an earlier stage of the study. The results reported and discussed here show levels of attainment and changes in students’ writing in the areas of text structure, sentence structure, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and handwriting, and also highlight relationships between these dimensions as students develop increasing control over writing. Socio-educational advantage, gender differences, and findings specific to children who learn English as an additional language are also reported. The findings have implications for practice in the early years of schooling. They also offer a conceptualisation of students’ early writing based on an analysis process that integrates the authorial and secretarial dimensions of writing and provides teachers with relevant data to plan instruction.

Teachers from government and independent schools anonymously completed a measure of attitudes towards applied behavior analysis (ABA) before and after participation in a short seminar on ABA. A total of 187 primary teachers provided data on professional qualifications, years of teaching, school type, number of students in the classroom, and prior knowledge of ABA. Data were also collected on the number of students with a disability the teacher had instructed. Survey results suggested that, before and after the seminar, teachers held negative attitudes towards ABA. These attitudes, however, significantly and positively shifted after attending the seminar. Neither the number of students taught with a disability over the last 5 years nor teacher type (e.g., specialist or classroom) nor school type (e.g., independent or government) was significantly related to the attitude measure. The findings have implications for ongoing teacher education and professional development, as well as for school psychologists tailoring interventions and framing recommendations for teachers in mainstream primary settings. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Teacher education in universities continues to diversify in the twenty-first century. Just as course offerings, course delivery, staffing and the teaching/research mix varies extensively from university to university so does the procedure for pre-service teacher selection. Various factors bear on selection procedures and practices however few university courses have rigorous testing procedures for candidate selection. Further, there has been an over-reliance on grade scores and interview as preferred selection methods. A method of selection based on a comprehensive and broad spectrum set of tests and questionnaires is proposed on which to base selection. We suggest that a model comprised of previous achievements, tests of ability and reasoning, self and social interaction are the best indicators and that scores on these factors should be taken into account to provide valid and reliable data on which to make good decisions when selecting candidates.